Along Came Clair
by Hellish Isabelle
Summary: SSOC. Another little piece of fluff.


Clair Lykes looked sorrowfully over Hogwarts' grounds. So much for her perfect graduation night. A piece of white blonde hair fell into her face. She didn't even bother to push it out of her face.

"It seems," a silky voice spoke from behind her, "that I am, for once, not the only one happy that it is graduation day."

She reconized it at once. Snape. The one person who could make her day worse than it already was, just had to show up now.

"Professor, it would seem that you are right," she almost growled out at him. "For once," she muttered under her breath.

"I assure you, Ms. Lykes, that I have been right on more than one occasion," he said to her, moving to stand on the balcony, as she was.

"Cut the crap, Snape. You are no longer my teacher, so I can say whatever I please. Why the hell are you here?"

Snape smirked, even though she couldn't see it because of the angle he was standing at. "I was simply told by Professor Dumbledore that there was a student up here. He sent me up here to make sure that the student in question didn't do anything drastic, such as jumping. Which reminds me, why are you up here and not frolicking with your immature friends?"

"Even though it is not any of your business, I don't have any friends. Immature or otherwise. I just found out that my boyfriend was actually dating my ex-best friend, so now everyone thinks I'm a slut who has to steal my friend's boyfriend to get laid. And if I were going to jump, I would pick a higher tower. This one barley stands above the ground."

"Lucky you, you figured that out before you jumped. I did not. It hurt a lot more than I thought it would," he muttered, just so she heard.

Clair chuckled before she could stop to think about it. "You tried to jump?"

"Just after I came to Albus, confessing that I had taken the Dark Mark."

Clair sobered. "I see." It was common knowledge now that Voldermort was defeated that Snape had been a Death Eater, eventually turned spy. No one, except Dumbledore it seemed, knew the details though.

Snape was surprised that she had laughed, even though it was just a chuckle. The only person who laughed with him was Albus, and that was usually because Snape was in a foul mood, not because he had made a joke.

Clair pulled her long blonde hair back into a quick knot, annoyed with it.

"Professor, why do you teach? I doubt you enjoy it."

He thought about it for a minute. She started to think that she had probed too far, but then he responded. "The first decade or so, I taught because I needed to be near Albus because of the war. But now, I almost enjoy it. I guess I want to know that when I'm old and can't go to the bloody bathroom by myself, that the people running the Ministry won't blow themselves, or me for that matter, up because of a botched potion."

Clair snorted. "Professor, somehow I just cannot picture you old."

"Really? I thought that everyone saw me as the 'Old Bat who came out of the caves to terrorize the poor students," he said, only half joking.

"Not everyone, Professor, not everyone...," she said, trailing off.

"And that means what exactly?" He asked, slightly amused.

"It means exactly what it says, Professor," she said, not about to reveal any details.

"Why weren't you put into Slytherin? Gods nows you act enough like one."

"Too smart for your dimwitted students. I'm honestly surprised that Goyle and Crabbe passed their first year."

"I'm not their Head of House for nothing."

"Favorable bastard," Clair muttered.

"I heard that."

"Well, duh."

"I'm not a muggle, Ms. Lykes."

"It means 'no, kidding' in a slightly more moody way."

"More than just being sarcastic?"

"Yes."

"Ah."

Clair squinted for a moment. "Why are you being civil to me? Even nice?"

"The war is over. I no longer have to uphold the 'evil bastard' persona."

"What's your actual personality like then?"

"I'm not really sure anymore, to be honest."

"You've gotten so used to pretending to a certain personality to please people that you lost yourself along the way?"

"You are correct, Ms. Lykes, for once," Snape said sarcasticly.

Clair chuckled. "So you do have a sense of humor. Wouldn't that put a few people in a coma."

Snape smiled. "And you smile too. If Voldemort wasn't already dead, I'd have thought you were being Polyjuiced."

Snape kept smiling. "Is it really that surprising? When I was in school, I used to smile a lot... I guess I've just stopped over the years because there was nothing to smile at..."

Clair said nothing. She wondered what he was thinking, and vice versa.

Snape pushed himself up from leaning on the railing, and turned to her. "Well, since we are no longer teacher and student, what do you say to dropping the formalities?"

Clair looked at him, questioning his statement. Finally, she too turned towards him and stuck out her hand, saying "Hi, I'm Clair Lykes."

"I'm Severus Snape, nice to meet you."

They both laughed, and leaned on the railing again. "So we dropped one set of formalities for another?" said Clair.

"It would seem so," Severus said, "but perhaps these will soon fade."

Clair smiled at that, though Severus couldn't see it.

There was silence for a few minutes, and then Severus stood up straight again. Clair looked at him, not wanting him to leave, but not wanting to say so.

"Would you like to come and have some tea?" Severus asked, nervously.

Clair smiled. "I would love to, but I'm afraid I'm not much of a tea person. Do you have anything stronger, by chance?"

Severus chuckled. "Yes, I have a few bottles of wine that I've been waiting for the right time to open."

"Then I'd love to." And with that, they both walked down to Severus's chambers.

As they were sitting down on Severus's hunter green couch, both with a glass of red wine, Clair sighed. "You know, this is really nice... Severus."

Severus smiled. He seemed to be smiling more tonight than he had in the past decade. "In that case, I believe a toast is in order. To... graduation?"

Clair smiled, and clinked glasses with him, saying "To graduation."

As they took a sip of their wine, there was a knock on the door. Severus jumped up to get it. "Not that we're doing anything wrong, or I'm embarassed. but you might want to slouch down so if its Dumbledore, we don't have a four hour lecture."

Clair giggled, already a bit tispy, and slouched down.

Severus answered the door. It was Terry Boot and his girlfriend, Hilary Linten. Severus leaned against the door, letting out a loud breath. "What the hell do you two want?"

"Umm..." Hilary said, frightened by the Potions Master. Terry Boot stepped forward half a step, and spoke boldly, "We're looking for Clair Lykes, and someone told us that she was seen walking with you."

Severus started laughing hilariously. "Even if she was with me, it's none of your bloody business, I wouldn't tell you, because as far as I know, she wants nothing to do with you. So why don't you go find a dark, damp, little corner to call yours, and leave me the hell alone!" With that, he slammed the door in their faces.

As soon as he closed the door, both Clair and Severus started cracking up.

After about five minutes of nonstop laughter, Severus was sitting on the couch again, and there were little droplets of wine everywhere.

"Sorry about the little bits of wine everywhere, Severus."

"It's alright, none of the furniture is mine anyways." They both started laughing again.

Severus stood up, although wobbily, and moved the wine bottle away. "I think we've already had a bit much."

Clair nodded, and downed the rest of the wine in her glass, and then set the glass on the table. Severus did the same.

A piece of Clair's hair fell from her knot and into her face. Severus hesitated, and then gently tucked it behind her ear.

Neither of them moved for a minute, until Clair cleared her throat and looked away, nervous.

"So..." she said.

"Well that was just bloody awkward," Severus said bluntly.

Clair giggled. "Yes, very much so." She looked at him again. "But not because I was unhappy with what was happening. Just because I'm nervous."

Severus said nothing. Very slowly, very gently, he kissed her. And she kissed him back.

Clair moved closer, until she was practically in his lap. They were still kissing gently, and Severus cupped her chin in his hand, and Clair had her hands in his hair, tousling it.

A few breathless minutes later, they pulled away, though Clair stayed sitting where she was.

There was an awkward silence, and then Clair spoke. "So where does this leave us?"

"I have no idea. But I don't want to act as though it never happened. I mean, you've graduated and you're of legal age, so as long as you don't regret it..."

"No! I will never regret it, Severus. I hope you don't..."

"Of course not."

Another silence, though not as awkward as the last.

"So are we like... dating?" Clair asked nervously.

"I guess so. Let's seal the deal then..." And with that, he kissed her full on the lips, not quite as gentle this time.

THE END

Author's Notes: Wow I haven't written in like forever, so this is a little bit of fluff that was converted from a would-have-been darker fic that I started writing last year when I was depressed. Hope you enjoy and please review! I own nothing, not even the title because I half-way copied off of the title of the movie 'Along Came Polly'. 


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